A standard roller-type awning of the type described in French patent No. 2,311,170 has a flexible awning panel, which may be formed by canvas or by a multiplicity of articulated horizontal slats and which has an upper edge attached to a winder core and a lower edge attached to a stabilizer bar. The winder core is a shaft that is typically associated with mechanism so that it can be rotated in either direction, normally carrying at one end a gear meshing with a worm that can be rotated by a manual crank or by a motor. The bar, which serves to keep the lower awning edge straight and to weigh down the awning, is typically secured at its ends to respective arms that have upper ends pivoted on supports adjacent the winder shaft and lower ends pivoted about parallel axes on the ends of the stabilizer bar. These arms have central pivots permitting them to bend about axes parallel to the axes of their ends, and are normally spring loaded into the straight position.
Thus when such an awning is lowered the weight of the stabilizer bar and the springs of the arms pull out the blind and straighten out the arms. When the awning is wound up the arms bend back until their two halves extend virtually parallel to each other and normally also parallel to the stabilizer bar and until the stabilizer bar lies virtually on the rolled-up awning panel.
Obviously such a piece of equipment is fairly bulky. It is typically held in an elongated housing that is generally of C-section, forming a slot through which the panel projects. The winder shaft floats in this housing whose inner diameter is sufficient to accommodate the wound-up awning. Right- and left-hand end fittings are provided to secure the housing to a wall or ceiling, and typically different types of fittings are used, depending on whether the awning is to be wall or ceiling mounted. The orientation of the housing is particularly important since when the awning is extended it should not rub on the housing, otherwise with time the awning will wear through at this location.
As a result the mounting of such an awning is a fairly complex process. First of all the awning and housing must be cut to length. Then the appropriate wall- or ceiling-mount end fittings are selected, different ones for each end, and installed on the cut housing. The entire assembly is then hoisted into place and secured at the ends. This procedure is onerous in the extreme and adds considerably to the cost of such an awning.